


Khyral

by MiyuLynx



Category: Star Fox Series
Genre: F/F, Lylat Wars, Other, Star Fox, Star Fox Command - Freeform, StarFox - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-15
Updated: 2015-10-15
Packaged: 2018-04-26 12:29:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5004850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiyuLynx/pseuds/MiyuLynx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>this story follows krystal after the events of the star wolf returns ending of command, in which she leaves the lylat system and becomes a bounty hunter.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Khyral

She had no idea where she was going, or how long she had flown. The only thing she knew is that she wanted to be as far away from the system as possible. Her mind was in a haze, and she was barely conscious of her decision to dock on a desert planet. She left her starfighter in the hands of the technicians of the port and walked into town, wandering aimlessly for a long while. She had no idea what planet she was on or what system she was in. The only thing she knew was that it wasn't Lylat, and that was okay with her.  
She let her feet carry her into what appeared to be a bar on the corner of the market district, and sat herself down at a booth along the left wall of the room. Her exhaustion overtook her as soon as she was seated, and she all but collapsed into her arms. Her head hurt horrendously and the scope of everything that had happened over the last few years completely overwhelmed her. It all seemed like such a blur, yet every memory was as painfully sharp as could be no matter how much she tried to forget. She had been kicked off the already-fragmented Star Fox mercenary team, in Fox's words “for your own safety”. She had joined the rival team Star Wolf just to spite him, and when he came to her to ask for help fighting a war he couldn't win alone, she had begrudgingly agreed. Through the efforts of R.O.B, the Great Fox's robotic operator, the team discovered the enemy ships were made with an alloy that helped them survive within the toxic Venomian sea. She had taken this information back to Star Wolf, and she, Wolf, Panther, and Leon took the fight to the enemy, eventually destroying the emperor, saving the Lylat system.  
But she had been shunned. The people hailed Star Wolf as heroes, and simultaneously named her traitor to her face for abandoning Fox. They slandered and dragged her through the mud, and it had broken her. She made the decision to leave everything behind, abandoning her team for a final time, and she made a promise to herself, sitting in this rundown bar on some desert planet in an unknown system, that she would never again return to Lylat.  
She folded her arms on the table, and laid her head down on them. She closed her eyes and continued to rack her brain for thoughts of what to do next, only pausing when she heard the sounds of scuffling. She opened her eyes at the sound of a bottle crashing into a wall, and only then noticed the commotion that had broken out closer to the bar. Several patrons had moved themselves to the walls of the room, creating a ring around the three people in the center. She watched as the two figures encircled their target, a large man that was struggling to stay on both feet. They were talking coolly, though all three had a hand on their waist, ready to reach for a weapon. She looked around the room and quickly plotted a way outside just as the man upended a table and drew his weapon, taking a few drunken shots at his two assailants. He missed horrendously, and chose instead to bolt for the door, rushing right past the vixen. She heard the sounds of guns firing, a loud curse, and was suddenly knocked down onto the floor by an extremely hard hit. She felt an intense pain in her arm, and gave a loud yelp of pain, managing to look down at what hit her just in time for it to discharge, sending electrical pulses throughout her body, causing her to spasm. She heard the sound of running feet as her vision faded, and she slipped into darkness and knew no more.

She awoke into a black room, much different from the bar she was in. She felt around and discovered she was on a bed, with the blankets drawn around her. On instinct she felt for her blaster, and found the holster was missing entirely. Her eyes slowly adjusted to the darkness, and she could see light from under a door at the foot of the bed. She sat up slowly, and cried out in pain as she tried to put weight on her right arm. She put her other hand to it and found it wrapped in a makeshift sling. The vixen tried testing the arm right as the door opened, filling the room with light. She blinked several times and looked up, recognizing the figure in the doorway as the person from the bar fight. The figure reached over and flipped a switch, lighting the room and revealing her face to the vixen. She was tall and feline, with rather large ears, and wore a sleeveless red shirt tucked into her pants. The top of her head was covered with black markings, and in the light the vixen could see she was practically made of muscle.  
“Finally awake, damn. You slept like a freakin' log.” Her voice was thick, with an almost tangible drawl. “Sorry about your arm there. My partner fixed it up as best she could but you'd be best not putting weight on it for a while. How's your head? Everything still connected?” The feline walked fully into the room and sat down at the foot of the bed, raising a hand when the vixen recoiled. “Whoa, easy, I'm not gonna hurt you. Again, anyway. Sorry about the stunner miss earlier, that drunk ass was pretty quick when he got going. Name's Miyu,” she said, offering her hand. She snapped it back quickly and scratched her head after remembering the sling. “Right, my bad. Anyway what about you? You got a name?”  
Krystal started to answer, and then closed her mouth. Could she really risk letting this person know her name? It was uncommon as it was, and could what have happened in Lylat reached… wherever this was? She shook her head instead, bringing her free hand up to her head to move the hair out of her eyes.  
Miyu fixed a quizzical look on her. “What do you mean 'no', everybody's got a name. Wait, shit. Do you know where you are? What planet? What system?” Again, Krystal shook her head no. Miyu sighed loudly and ran a hand over her forehead. “Aw, damn it. Of course THIS would be what she's right about.” She turned back to the door and gave a shrill whistle. “Hey Fay, get in here! You were right about the head trauma thing.” The sound of running feet was heard, and a few seconds later a smaller, lithe figure entered the doorway. This second person was a canine, definitely, with stark white fur and long droopy ears. She was wearing a rust-colored jacket, zipped up to the top, and dark grey pants, similar to Miyu's. The most prominent feature of her attire was the large red bow on the back of her head, its tassels dangling freely near her shoulders.  
Fay, as she was called, sat her hands on her hips and looked at Miyu. “I TOLD you that you had hurt her! And you didn't want to bring her back.” She quickly moved next to the feline and bent over, eying Krystal up and down. Seemingly satisfied, she stood up and wore a smile. “I'm Fay, Fay Spaniel! We're really sorry about hurting you earlier. Do you remember anything about yourself? What about where you're from?” Krystal looked both of them up and down and sighed before finally opening her mouth to speak. “I… I was a mercenary. I don't remember where,” she lied. “All I remember is that I left the team and the system and don't ever plan on going back.” At that, Miyu and Fay both looked at each other, then back to her. Miyu spoke first. “So you were a mercenary in another system, explains why you didn't show up in the codex or bounty lists.”  
Fay slapped her arm hard. “Miyu!!” The feline chuckled. “Hey, you can't blame me for lookin'. That last dude was barely worth the fight it took to catch him. Freakin' lousy two thousand credits...” Fay fixed an angry glare on her partner before addressing Krystal again. “So you left your system, came all the way out here to the Uleo system, landed on Kew and had no plans for anything past leaving? That's… kind of foolhardy. I mean, mercenary work is fine and all, but it's not really going to help you out here. This place is more outlaws than it is anything else.” She looked off to the side and scratched behind her head. “To be honest, I'm kind of glad Miyu checked you first. You having no entry in the bounty lists means that you're either an honest person or you haven't exactly done any crime worth having a bounty for.”  
Krystal gave a weak smile, and then looked down at her arm. “Is… is it broken? It doesn't feel broken.” Miyu shook her head, and reached forward to poke Krystal's arm. “Nah, if it were broken you'd know. I think it's just dislocated. Which is also really going to suck for you.” Krystal screwed her face up in confusion, to which Miyu replied “Look, kid. You're on a planet filled with criminals in a system that has the literal shittiest police force I have EVER seen. You ain't gonna survive with a bad arm, which means we gotta slingshot that thing. It's gonna hurt like hell.” Fay nodded in agreement. “It's not the… cleanest procedure, but there also isn't any way that we can do it otherwise. We'll work on that after we eat, though. I'm sure you must be starving!” Krystal's stomach growled in agreement. 

A few minutes later, Krystal was seated at a small table in the corner of the main room. The apartment she was in was sparsely decorated, with torn furniture and more than a few dust bunnies rolling around the floor. The table she sat at was nearly spotless however, and from the way Miyu was leaning back in her chair against the wall, Krystal could tell this was probably where the two of them spent the most of their time. Soon Fay had pulled up a third chair and placed a tray of various foods in the center, and handed Krystal a plate and several utensils for her to take first pick. Krystal limited herself to only a bit of everything, not wanting to impose on her caretakers. Eventually all three had full plates (though Fay's looked the largest by far!) and the three of them fell into silence, enjoying the meal.  
Krystal continued to look around, trying to piece everything together. Her curiosity finally got the better of her, and she finally had to ask, “So… what do you guys do, exactly?” Miyu swallowed a large bite of food. “Did we not say that already? I could have sworn we did. Anyway we're bounty hunters. Best in the system.” At a glance from Fay, she added, “...that we know of anyway.” Krystal stared at the both of them. “Bounty hunters? On a planet full of criminals? Isn't that dangerous?” Fay chuckled a bit and nodded. “That's why we never stay in one place for long. We've made more than our fair share of enemies here, but there's so much good money to be made.” Krystal digested the information before asking “But if there's such good money to be made, why are you both living, er…” Miyu cut her off. “Living in a shithole like this? It's because we're savin' up. There's a decommissioned starcraft carrier we've had our eyes on for years now. We're just 200 thousand short of it.” She sat up in her chair and continued. “It'd be so worth it to finally get that thing and have a base of operations, you know? Though to be honest I kinda like the couch here. It's pretty damn comfortable for a couch.” At this, Fay loudly set her utensils down on the plate, making a clanging sound. “Miyu we're not taking the couch. I told you that.” Miyu smiled and waved her off, then went on. “Anyway that's talk for later. You done eatin'? We gotta get your arm back in its socket.” Krystal shuddered at the prospect, then nodded and stood up, and started to grab her plate. Fay smacked her free hand quickly. “Stop. I'll take care of that. You two go get ready, I'll be in there shortly.”  
Krystal followed Miyu back into the room she woke up in, which she now realized was the only bedroom in the apartment. Miyu busied herself with a plant next to the dresser, taking a knife to the trunk. She sawed off a sizable chunk of bark and then turned to show it to Krystal. “Hope you don't mind the taste too much,” she said with a smile. Fay entered the room and gestured toward the bed, motioning for Krystal to lie down on her stomach. She moved behind the prone vixen and began undoing the wraps of the sling, letting Krystal's arm move freely. “Alright, now you're… gonna wanna bite down on this, kid.” Miyu handed the bit of bark to Krystal, who looked it over before glancing nervously at Fay, who nodded. She set the bark between her teeth and readied herself, wincing in pain as Miyu slowly lifted her arm back. Fay moved closer and put both hands at Krystal's shoulder, and together the canine and feline began rolling it firmly but slowly. Krystal gripped the sheets of the bed with her free hand tightly, trying hard not to scream in pain, and after a few agonizing seconds, with an audible pop the shoulder snapped into place. Krystal groaned loudly at the sheer waves of pain that flooded through her head, and try as she might to keep conscious, her vision darkened yet again and she passed out, the bark from the plant hanging out of her mouth.

 

She awoke again in the darkened bedroom, disoriented and confused. She ran over the last memories of consciousness in her mind, remembering where she was. Everything had happened so quickly, she debated just lying there for a while longer and sleeping for as long as she could. After a few minutes, however, she sat up, and tested her arm, rolling it slowly and bending it. It still hurt, but much less so than before. She tested it by leaning on it, and found that it would hold her weight with some discomfort. Satisfied, the vixen got up from the bed and fumbled along the inside of the dark room, eventually finding the door's handle, and opened it to find the apartment now sparsely lit. Miyu sat on the couch in the main room, thumbing through her codex with a passing interest. Fay was nowhere to be seen.  
Hearing the door open, Miyu looked up and placed her codex on her lap. “Well, look who's awake again. You snore ridiculously loud, you know. I thought about gettin' some blankets or something to soundproof the door.” Krystal chuckled sheepishly, and then looked around the small room. “Where is Fay?”  
“She's out for some errands. She'll be back shortly, kid, don't worry.”  
“Why do you keep calling me kid?”  
Miyu sat back and draped one arm along the back of the couch. “Because I know for a fact you're younger. We chopped the tip of your tail off and counted the rings.” Seeing Krystal's confused expression, she gave a laugh and went on. “Relax kid, take a freakin' joke. Nah I call you 'kid' because you've made a lot of dumb decisions recently. Fay can sugarcoat it all she wants, but that doesn't change the fact that you've acted drastically without thinking. You ditched your entire life, left your entire home behind, and didn't even know where you were going. You landed on this planet, walked into literally the worst place you could have, and now you don't even know who you are anymore. Whatever it was that happened, you acted like a freakin' child about it.” Her words pained Krystal, mostly because she found herself agreeing. She felt her face flushing and felt tears forming despite herself, and played off wiping them away by acting as though she was scratching her cheek.  
Miyu caught the action clearly and sighed. “Look, kid, I don't mean to upset you. I don't know the whole story any more than you do, so I can't exactly fault you for any of it. In any case, that's why you ain't gettin' your blaster back. All your stuff is safely tucked away, we ain't goin' through any of it,” she added, seeing Krystal's worried look. “Fay may be happy to help but I don't make a living by trusting everybody. You understand that, right?”  
Krystal nodded, and then asked, “What about you, though? How do I know I can trust you?”  
Miyu studied Krystal with thoughtful eyes, and then sat up. “Fair enough. What do you wanna know?”  
“You said you were bounty hunters, and that you're saving up for a mothership. Were you two both born here? How did you meet? How long have you been working together?” Miyu held up her hands and patted the air. “Whoa, whoa, kid, slow down. I ain't about to answer all of those until Fay gets back. She's involved with all of that. I will say that we've been together for a long-ass time, and our relationship ain't strictly business.” Krystal thought about that statement for a moment before connecting the pieces, and her sudden realization must have been evident on her face. “So, you two are–‒” Miyu cut her off. “Yeah, we are. Have been for years. I'm sure she'll be glad to tell you all about it when she gets back.”

Krystal and Miyu spent the next hour mostly in silence. Krystal was kind of glad for the quiet, as she let her mind roam over everything that had transpired again. She still had no idea what she was going to do or where she could go, and the credits she took with her would only last her so long. She had just begun to consider her options when Miyu shifted suddenly, reaching down by her shin for the handle of her stunner. She silenced Krystal with a finger before she could ask what was going on, and a few agonizing seconds later she released her gun and relaxed visibly. A soft rattling was heard at the front door, and moments later Fay entered the apartment, carrying a large bag on one arm. She softly shut the door behind her, and quickly locked everything back into place. She sighed and slumped against the door for a second, and, noticing Krystal sitting on the couch, brightened and stood back up. “Oh hey, glad to see you're awake!” She reached under her jacket and undid a belt, pulling her weapon holsters off, and set the belt on a peg close to the door. She walked over to the table and set the bag down, then turned back to Krystal. “Sorry if we freaked you out. We gotta be careful, remember? Miyu and I have perimeter traps set up all over the place outside. Any time someone steps foot even close to the outside, we know about it.” Krystal looked at the two of them, suddenly very aware that they must have been doing this for a long time.  
Miyu moved to stand up and help, but Fay stopped her and assured her that she could take care of it. She moved quickly and methodically, putting everything into various cupboards and drawers, and when finished walked over and sat down next to Miyu, who asked several times if she had been followed or seen. Fay assured her that she hadn't, and satisfied, Miyu then told Fay about their guest's questions. Fay's face brightened immediately as she turned to regard Krystal. “Oh, wow, I don't think we've ever told anybody the entire thing. It seems like it happened forever ago, really. We only arrived on this planet around 4 years ago, after our ship ran out of fuel. Until we arrived here we were almost like mercenaries, except we mostly did whatever odd jobs we could find to get us our next meal.”  
She reached behind her head and adjusted her bow before continuing. “But I guess you're wanting a bit more in-depth than that, right? Let's see… well, we were both born in the Bror system, a very long ways away from here. The system was, er, 'rustic', by present standards. There were a lot of kingdoms and kings on each one of the planets.”  
“Like, actual kings with crowns and royal robes?”  
Fay nodded. “They were almost always at war with one another for land or supplies or whatever. Miyu and I both lived on Me'ath, a smaller planet with three such kingdoms on it. I was the princess of the smaller of the three, and Miyu was my own personal bodyguard assigned to me by my father.” Krystal widened her eyes. “A princess?”  
Fay let out a quick laugh and continued. “Yes, a princess. It was mostly a title, since I had very little control over anything that happened within the kingdom. Miyu was really the only friend that I had, and it meant a lot when she decided to help me after my… falling out with the king.”  
Miyu laughed loudly. “Fay, the man picked up and threw my freakin' commander at us. That's more than a 'falling out'. Not to mention the hole our ship had in it when he decided stabbin' it with a sword was a great idea.”  
Krystal's chuckle brought them both back to the present. “Anyway,” Fay continued, “the king claimed that we must have been spying on him from one of the other kingdoms. He branded us both traitors and banished us,” the canine sighed. “We quickly snagged anything we could and left, with only around ten thousand credits between the two of us. We traveled from planet to planet before realizing that the situation we left on Me'ath was pretty standard across the entire system. I think Miyu was the one to propose ditching the entire place and starting somewhere else. A few hundred odd jobs later, we found ourselves here, saving up for an actual mothership.”  
The word “traitor” made Krystal curious. “What happened, specifically? Why did he call you both traitors?” Fay was shaking her head before she even finished. “Sorry, I don't really feel comfortable enough to tell you that yet. It's… complicated.” She scratched behind her head, and then changed the subject. “So what about you? Have you decided what it is you're going to do?”  
The question hit Krystal harder than she anticipated. She still had no idea where to go or what she COULD do. She hadn't really even considered anything beyond not going back to Lylat. She quickly thought about all of her options and discovered they truly were very limited. She could really only either make it back to her ship and fly away, look for another system and planet to land on, or–‒  
Miyu cleared her throat loudly. “Kid? You still with us?” Krystal looked up at both of them and wondered exactly how long she had been in thought. She took a deep breath to steel herself, and asked, “Would… would it be okay if I stayed with you? I mean of course I wouldn't freeload, I'd look for work, or help clean up or-” Miyu stopped her with an upraised hand. “Whoa, kid, I dunno. Look, I know you were a mercenary and all, but again you made a lot of really stupid choices leadin' up to this. What we do, we can't afford mistakes. Just one can wind up costin' all of us seriously.”  
Fay started to speak, but Miyu cut her off. “Fay, this is serious. I know you wanna help, but we can't just take on any Jane Doe off the street that don't even remember her name.” She looked back to Krystal and fixed an intense stare on her. “Now I ain't heartless. You're a kid out here with no place to call home, nowhere to go, no way to make money.” She reached a hand up and massaged her eyes gently. “You're welcome to stay here until we can figure somethin' out, but until then you ain't leaving the apartment without one of us supervising.” Fay started to protest, but Miyu covered her mouth. “Fay, I ain't backing down on this one. She ain't a prisoner, but we also can't trust her entirely.” She again looked back to Krystal and again fixed that intense stare on her. “Those are the rules. You alright with that?”  
Krystal considered the terms for only a second, then nodded in agreement. Miyu sighed. “There you go again, actin' without thinkin'… but alright. This works out for us. Anyway it's late and I'd like to nap in my own bed for a change. Kid, you'll be fine sleepin' out here, right?” She and Fay both stood, and started gathering their things to head into their bedroom. Fay gave a quick apology for not having a spare blanket, but offered an extra pillow and assured Krystal that it never gets that cold here anyway.

An hour later, Krystal lay awake, staring at the ceiling. So much had happened within just a few short hours, it was hard to believe that days before she was living on Corneria. She wondered if anybody had even noticed she had left, or if anybody missed her. She scowled at the realization that likely Panther would be the first to notice, and likely he'd try something he considered 'romantic'. She let out a sigh and wondered why she even cared. With any luck, she'd never see any of them again, and that was fine for her. Her eyelids grew heavy, and she adjusted her position to lay on her side, and drifted off to sleep.  
Her dreams were troubled, and filled with vivid imagery. She saw herself flying her Arwing, avoiding countless laser blasts, intent on reaching her goal: the Anglar emperor. She took a hit on her left wing. Were her shields down? No matter. She had to reach the emperor. An explosion rocked her in her seat. Her left engine was down. She was losing altitude. Where was the eject button? She saw the tail of the emperor, she was so close. If she could just angle a few shots… He turned on her, and came straight for her. The eject button, where was it?! She tried to fire a smart bomb. Critical error, eject now. She scrambled around in the cockpit, desperately looking for her eject button. Another explosion, her second wing gone. She was losing altitude, and the emperor was getting closer. She watched in horror as the emperor opened his mouth, a horridly victorious scream getting louder and closer… Her vision shifted. She saw herself living on Corneria. She was alone on the planet, there wasn't a single living soul anywhere to be found. She checked shops, walked deformed and twisted streets, followed a sidewalk and found–‒ the edge of the world? She looked up and saw a huge mirror. She saw herself, tiny and alone, somewhere she couldn't recognize. She couldn't even recognize herself, though she knew that it was her. She tried looking beyond her reflection, and staring into the world behind her, but the ground gave way and she fell like a rock, the last thing she saw being her reflection reaching a hand out to catch her.  
She awoke with a soft gasp, sitting straight up. She brought a hand to her face and wiped away… tears? She rubbed her entire face and tried to slow her breath. She looked around the dark apartment as best as she could, hoping she hadn't woken up Miyu and Fay. Hearing and seeing nothing, she laid back down and shut her eyes, not daring to sleep right away. She thought about Miyu and Fay, and how they had been nothing but nice to her even though they knew nothing about her. She wished she could tell them more about her past life, but she dared not risk a… friendship? Were they friends? Were they only going to keep her around if she was useful? Would they defend her in a fight?  
She had no answers. Her mind kept racing and going back to her dream, which seemed so vivid and real. That had not been how the fight with the emperor had gone, she knew that. But what was her reflection? Why had it been reaching out to her? Was she, the only person left on Corneria, even worth saving? Her mirror image had seemed so similar but she could tell it was different. The mirror image had looked almost content. What was her mind trying to tell her?  
A shuffling noise brought her out of her contemplations. She lay very still, listening intently. The door to Miyu and Fay's room opened, and Fay walked out, tip-toeing quietly. Krystal watched quietly as Fay snuck over to the cupboard, bent over and reached in. Krystal couldn't see what she was doing, but she heard… crunching? Fay was getting a late night snack? How much did she eat exactly? Krystal adjusted her position just enough to make a noise, which immediately stopped the crunching. A few seconds later it resumed, slightly quieter than before. Krystal smiled and flipped over, staring at the back of the couch. A few minutes later she again heard shuffling as Fay quietly snuck back into her room. Krystal again closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep, this time with no dreams.

The next morning saw Miyu leaving the apartment early. She explained she was going into town for a few things they had missed, and that she'd be back before long. Krystal spent her time cleaning around the apartment a bit, dusting off some of the old furniture, while Fay explained bounty hunting more in-depth. She explained who they turn their catches in to, and how the stunner works among other things. Krystal listened attentively, trying to learn anything she could about the profession. Every now and then she offered snippets about what she “remembered” of her life as a mercenary, to which Fay took in with a smile.  
As the morning dragged on Fay became increasingly irritable, and Krystal picked up on the cause nearly immediately: Miyu had been gone longer than she said she was going to. The two fell mostly silent, waiting for any sign of Miyu's return. Krystal, seeing Fay repeatedly put her hand to her ear, broke the silence first. “Is there something wrong with your ear? You keep grabbing at it.” The canine balked but then sighed and flipped her ear up, revealing a small black box clipped onto the inside of her droopy ear. “It's an audio transmitter,” she explained. “This is how Miyu and I know whenever somebody gets close to this place. Someone steps foot within the range, this thing tells us where they are and what direction they're heading in. Miyu always makes sure to trigger a specific spot so that I know it's her, but–‒” she stopped and dropped her ear, and held a finger up to Krystal. After a few agonizing seconds, she relaxed visibly, but then screwed her face up in confusion. “That's Miyu, but… something's not right. I can't tell what's going on.”  
Krystal shut her eyes and strained to hear any telling sound that she could. Almost instinctively, she slowed her breathing and focused on the area around her. She fell into herself, sending her consciousness out beyond her form telepathically, making contact with Fay's mind immediately. She pushed further, out beyond the walls of the apartment, searching for anything she could find. She connected with several small creatures, shooing them away with a mental suggestion before finally finding Miyu. She connected with Miyu's consciousness, feeling for anything she could. She felt the emotions Miyu felt, caution, worry, exhaustion… fear? Was there something to fear? Krystal extended her range further, pushing her body to its limits. She kept searching for anything she could find, and eventually found the source of Miyu's fear: a person that had followed her in secret. She connected with the person's mind, scanning it for anything she could, and felt a budding sensation that grew and grew the longer she was connected. Elation. Greed. Victory. Suddenly Krystal realized what was happening, and pulled back as quickly as she could to Miyu. She connected with her again and hurriedly implanted the only suggestion she could think of: get down!  
Not two seconds had she done that was she tackled to the ground by Fay, her consciousness snapping back to her body in time to see a huge laser blast blow the front door off its hinges. A dust cloud engulfed the area, and Krystal and Fay quickly scrambled to the sides of the hall, waiting for another blast. They peeked around and saw Miyu starting to sit up, staring wide eyed back at them, breathing heavy. She stared at Krystal hard, then turned back to where the shot had come from just in time to see the attacker leveling his cannon back at them again. “Move!” she yelled, diving to the side, and Krystal and Fay retreated further into the apartment just as another laser blast took out a huge chunk of wall. Fay was up in an instant, charging forward to reconnect with Miyu. The two dove behind some rubble and immediately began trying to line up their stunners for a shot, but couldn't see through the dust cloud. A string of curses, followed by another scream heralded a third laser blast that slammed into the apartment, a chunk of ceiling collapsing nearly on top of Krystal.  
Krystal fell into herself again, her consciousness making a beeline for the attacker's. She imprinted on him, making a note of his location and outlining his consciousness to her. She envisioned flames engulfing his form, and could see the entirety of his body clearly. She came back to her own body, and opened her eyes–‒ and found that she could still see him, plain as day. She ran as fast as she could outside the apartment, and was nearly blinded by the dust cloud, but the man's outline would not fade away from her mind. She found Miyu and Fay sprawled onto the ground behind a small chunk of the now-ruined apartment, Miyu nursing her leg but still trying to line up a shot to an attacker she couldn't see. Krystal ran over and yanked the stunner from her hands, and ignoring Miyu's angry protests, lined up the gun with the outline of the shooter, still clear as could be through the dust cloud. She steadied her breathing, inhaled once, and fired. The stunner flew at light speed through the dust cloud, out of sight, and Krystal ducked behind the chunk of the apartment with Miyu and Fay, waiting for yet another laser blast. It never came.  
The dust slowly cleared, and Krystal cautiously stood up. She checked around for any sign of the man, and found him, several yards away, out cold with the stunner wrapped around him tight, still flashing white with electricity. She breathed out a heavy sigh of relief, and turned to help Fay get Miyu up. The feline couldn't stand without support, but insisted she was fine, staring hard at Krystal the entire time. Fay helped Miyu into the remains of the apartment, and instructed Krystal to check on the attacker and take… whatever the hell weapon that was away from him before he got back up. Krystal cautiously walked over to the man's knocked out form, and reeled when she got closer. The stunner had been a direct hit, and had disabled the canine man, permanently. His neck had somehow snapped during the fall, and he stared open eyed at the sky, mouth agape in an eternal scream. Krystal averted her eyes, sickened by the scene, and took the huge laser cannon and saddled it on her back. She spent the walk back to the apartment trying to forget the man's face as best she could.

An hour later, Krystal and Fay had packed up anything salvageable they could and were ready to move. Miyu, however, sat on the ruined couch, her leg in a splint, and she folded her arms across her chest and fixed an angry stare on Krystal. “I ain't movin' anywhere just yet. Kid, you got some serious explaining to do, right now, immediately.” Krystal sighed and set her pack down, meeting Miyu's glare. The feline leaned forward and continued. “What the hell was that back there? And don't you DARE play dumb with me, you know exactly what I'm talking about. How the hell was I able to HEAR you in my mind? And that bullshit with the lucky shot through the freakin' dust? What did you do?” Krystal steeled herself under that intense gaze and explained carefully. “I'm a telepath. I'm able to feel emotion and thoughts of people around me, and I'm able to–‒”  
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, so mind control or some shit?”  
“No, no! I'm only able to make suggestions for things that a person should do, I can't force them to do anything! I sensed the guy about to fire and told you that you should get down, that's it!”

Miyu sat back and chewed on her bottom lip. “Alright. That sounds bullshit, but alright. Now what about the shit with the perfect shot? How the hell did you swing that?”  
Krystal could only shrug. “That one, I'm not sure about. I sort of… marked him, somehow. I could see him clearly even through all the dust, like he was outlined.”  
Miyu brought a hand to her face and rubbed her eyes before staring at Krystal again. “So basically, you're able to…. Read minds, for lack of a better definition, and you essentially have a built-in scanner. And you didn't think to tell either one of us about this? You didn't think that maybe this is some shit we oughta know?” Fay started to protest, but Miyu cut her off again. “Fay, no. This kid here has shit going on that's dangerous. How the hell do we know this wasn't all planned? Like she was supposed to read our minds or some shit and then tell her cohorts where we were? How do we know she hasn't been planning this from day one? This is why we don't trust peop–‒”  
Fay calmly walked right over to Miyu and smacked her arm as hard as she could. “Damn it, Miyu, will you listen to yourself?! She saved your life! She saved both of our lives! If she was wanting to have us killed she would have just let the guy blow up the entire freaking apartment! But she didn't, she saved both of us and you just… you can't accept that she's wanting to help!” Even from the angle she was at, Krystal could see the tears welling in Fay's eyes. Fay blinked them away and continued. “We're both alive thanks to her. The literal LEAST you could do is thank her! I could have lost you, you moron!”  
Miyu sighed and reached up, pulling Fay into a tight hug. She kissed Fay's forehead, then looked back at Krystal. “She's right. As much as I hate to admit it, she's completely right about the whole situation. You did good, kid, but don't let it go to your head.” Krystal smiled weakly and had to wipe away an errant tear from her eye. She played it off by acting as though some dust had gotten in it, and then picked up both her pack and Fay's. “We should get going, if we can.” Miyu nodded in agreement and she and Fay both stood, and the trio began heading for the door before Miyu stopped them. “Wait a sec, I almost forgot.” She walked with a bit of a limp now, back over to the couch and tugged on it, pulling it away from the wall. She reached over behind it, and after a few seconds produced a small rucksack and offered it to Krystal. The vixen set her packs down and opened the sack, and found, to her delight, all of her belongings, including her blaster. “I'm still callin' you 'kid' until you give me a better name.” Krystal gave a soft chuckle and thought for a second, and then said “Actually, I think I might have one picked out. If it's alright with you two that is.” Fay and Miyu both wore curious expressions.  
“I think I'd like to be called Khyral. K-h-y-r-a-l.” Miyu and Fay looked from her to each other, and Miyu shrugged. “Alright. Khyral it is. About damn time you named yourself.” Khyral gave another chuckle and stepped aside so Miyu could walk past. “Alright, now come on, we gotta get to our other place before nightfall.” Khyral holstered her blaster and pocketed the other things in the sack, including the keys to her Arwing, grabbed the two packs she had set down, and fell in line behind the couple, walking out of the destroyed apartment and into the sunlight of the world.


End file.
